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Most startups aren’t going to become the next Facebook. 

I know that sounds pessimistic, but it’s true. Just look at the statistics. 

Nearly nine out of every ten startups fail!

Does that mean you can’t be successful as a startup? Of course not, but it’s good to know your odds. 

On the latest episode of the Inner Edison Podcast with Ed Parcaut, we talked all about how to survive as a startup. 

We spoke with Steve S. Hoffman, the CEO of Founders Space. This global startup accelerator works in 50 countries around the world. 

In his book Surviving the Startup, he explains how he helps entrepreneurs overcome huge obstacles, from finding funding to growing their teams and scaling their businesses. 

Build Your Team First

Most entrepreneurs start with an idea. 

This only seems natural; however, after working with hundreds of entrepreneurs, Steve advises that you find the right team first. 

While this may sound counter-intuitive, he firmly believes that having the right team is crucial to the success of any worthy idea. 

The reason: most companies change their ideas. 

Steve highlights that successful startups like YouTube and Slack started with completely different ideas. 

YouTube started out as a video dating site. 

That was before they became the second largest search engine on the planet and a powerhouse for curing boredom with their video content. 

Slack started as a game. 

It wasn’t until the founders realized that the dev team was using the built-in messaging tool that they realized they had a real product to help businesses connect.

“Put 80% of your time into finding the right team.” 

Steve advocates building a team first for two reasons: 

1. Ideas tend to change. 
2. It’s really hard to change a team. 

Steve has seen startups with the best ideas fail because their mediocre teams cannot execute. 

So, start with finding the right team!  

How to Bring on a Team Without Capital

Finding the right people without capital is challenging. 

Steve suggests two ways to hire passionate team members when capital is low:

• Share your revenue between the members. 

1. Share equity in the company. 

Steve also suggests that you look for members who are passionate about building something and impacting people’s lives. 

People who are passionate and mission-driven tend to stay longer and focus on the end result. 

So, where can you find these people? 

You want to look for team members where they geek out.

• Computer Coders – go to meet up groups on and offline 
• Marketing – go to marketing meetups on and offline

You may be the only entrepreneur in a sea of possible employees at these events. 

Develop Ideas as a Team

After you’ve found the right team, now is the time to develop some ideas. 

Ask each team member to come up with ten to twenty ideas, then share them as a group. 

Pick the top idea everyone wants to go with, and test it with the market. 

The way to do this is to go straight to potential customers and ask for potential outcomes that would revolutionize their business. 

If you can find a way to solve their problem and produce the right outcome, you have a business. 

Great entrepreneurs are demand hunters. 

You want 20% of customers you ask to clamor for your idea and want to buy now! 

Want to Learn More? 

If you’re an entrepreneur looking to build a startup, you can find loads of information about our startup & innovation programs through our website. 

If you’d like to return to the content, again and again, check out his books. 

As always, if you’re looking for great interviews about business, entrepreneurism, and more, please check out the Inner Edison Podcast with Ed Parcaut. 

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